Written by: Jossie Sepulveda
Something About Art and Design Owner
Art is more than a combination of shapes, forms and colors on a canvas, it is the essence of self-centered with the higher power. Art creates the opportunity to search inside yourself for feelings that cannot be expressed verbally, but can be expressed thought the variety of colors on a canvas. There are studies that show the act of creating art has been linked to improvement in emotional wellbeing. A 2012 study published in Stress and Health of women with breast cancer found that a mindfulness-based art therapy program helped patients reduce stress and anxiety. The reason why is due to the decrease on cerebral blood flow in those regions corresponding to the reward and the regulation of stress response. When practicing art, the body enters in a deep transcendental meditate state that helps the disconnection between the stress circumstance and self for the time prancing art.
Art as healer...
From the beginning of the recorded history of many cultures, human beings have used art and creative expression as a powerful catalyst in the healing process.
Art helps us explore what is happening to us or others, gives us a means to express it, helps us to integrate it into our or others life story which gives it meaning and allows for some sense of release, detach, or letting go. Through the means of creativity, create or mastering, we can connect with the essence and fullness of who we really are. This is where the reservoir of healing resides.
Oscar Wilde once said, “Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.” Art provides a way to communicate experiences when individuals lack verbal skills, or when words are insufficient to connect, sometimes due to past traumas. Humans evolved artistic expression as an imaginative tool for adapting to changing conditions and solving problems. Specially if those problems are related to insecurities, traumas, self worth, neglecting, lack of self voice, expression, oppression and other.
Art has the ability to transport, connect, share, and embrace moments and circumstances though your life, or the life of the world you life in.
Many studies released each year that point towards empirical evidence of the healing power of art, not just in treating mental issues like depression, trauma, or dementia, but even cancer, as the production and presence of art can decrease one’s perception of pain, improve quality of life and compliance to treatment.[1]
What is interesting about art and its healing benefits, is that the benefit can be by practicing art (create art) or by having art at home and enjoy it.
Canada is the pioneer on become the first country in the world to allow medical professionals to “prescribe art” to their patients, with a new initiative by the Montreal Museum of Arts which enables physicians to enroll in the program to be able to prescribe free visits to their patients as treatment. The project seeks to treat issues ranging from anxiety and eating disorders to high blood pressure.
“In the 21st century, culture will be what physical activity was for health in the 20th century,” said MMFA director general Nathalie Bondil.[2]
The Canadian physician, Dr. Helene Boyer explains:
There’s more and more scientific proof that art therapy is good for your physical health. It increases our level of cortisol and our level of serotonin. We secrete hormones when we visit a museum and these hormones are responsible for our well-being. People tend to think this is only good for mental health issues. That it’s for people who’re depressed or who have psychological problems. But that’s not the case. It’s good for patients with diabetes, for patients in palliative care, for people with chronic illness.
Bring Art at Home and benefit for its healing benefit.
Integrating art into your life, either creating art or buying art (www.somethingaboutartanddesign.com) has many of the same health benefits as regular exercise, with the added benefit that it adds meaning and beauty into your day-to-day environment, routine and ambience. So, if you want to obtain some of these benefits, bring some art into your life and into your spaces!
Bibliography:
[1]The Connection Between Art, Healing, and Public Health: A Review of Current Literature
Heather L. Stuckey, DEd and Jeremy Nobel, MD, MPH. Am J Public Health. 2010 February; 100(2): 254–263.
[2] Wecker, Menachem. Fine Art Is Good Medicine’: How Hospitals Around the World Are Experimenting With the Healing Power of Art. Artnet News, 29 July 2019
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